This weblog will make the case that in order to return America to prosperity, we must go from a debt-based to an equity-based economy.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

A Look back at the Elections of 2012

The elections of 2012 are behind us, but before I begin
treating my new subject, business, and in particular the concepts of
leadership, teamwork, customer satisfaction, and employee morale, I will allow
myself a few observations on those elections.

Observation 1: Although the election campaigns were
seemingly endless, little of substance was discussed. Most of the major party candidates, including
those running for president, spent most of their time attacking each other. The message seemed to be, "a vote for my opponent
is a vote for misery and hopelessness."Those candidates who did take a principled stand – Ron Paul against wars
and military bases world-wide or Paul Ryan for a voucher plan for Medicare, and
I'm sure there were others – were instantly caricatured and demonized.

Observation 2: Many critical issues were addressed only at
the ragged edges or not at all. The
goals, return on investment, and criteria for success of our foreign wars
received scant attention.The concept of
balancing environmental concerns with energy investments was not discussed.Taxes were discussed, in the context of our
federal deficit, but tax reform and the incentives and disincentives of our
current system were not addressed. The
deficit was put forward as a central problem, when in fact it masks the central
issue of government spending and the transfer of funds from the public to the
private sector, from young to old, and from those who work to those who do not.
Immigration and so-called undocumented
aliens received only passing mention even though many of these people have
become an integral part of our economy.

Observation 3: Less than two weeks after the election, as we
approach an automatic reduction in government spending coupled with tax hikes,
the so-called "fiscal cliff," the standoff between the major
political parties threatens a re-run of the Affordable Care Act, the so-called
"Obama care."In the latter
case, early in the president's first administration, health reform was pursued
with the objective of insuring the un-insured and those thought to be
uninsurable (with "pre-existing conditions"). In the battle over whether and how to do this,
a rare opportunity to decrease the cost of the current system (if we can call
it that) was missed.The ACA does not
address outsized malpractice awards, government subsidies to private industry
for health insurance (which drive up prices in general and the cost of
insurance for those who don't work for favored companies in particular), and a
lack of competition across state lines by insurance companies.

The fiscal cliff offers an opportunity – in the shadow of a
growing government burden on the citizenry – to discuss just how big government
should be and how we can pay for it without crushing our young workers under
unbearable debt and taxes.However,
early signs are that one party is obsessed with tax rates rather than tax
reform and the other is obsessed with preserving our current system of
redistribution of funds from young to old, and from workers to non-workers.Moreover, most legislators are hesitant to reduce
the Defense Department budget, even though they know that DoD acquisition does
not deliver excellent products or services to our armed forces.

Observation 4: A ray of hope, buried in the election
returns, was the showing of the Libertarian Party, the party of limited
government, separation of church and state, and individual responsibility; they
attack issues rather than people. They
represent a necessary force, however small, an island of sanity, and an alternative
to the major parties which are living in the past. The Libertarian Party is a force for
constructive change, desperately needed now more than ever.Even if it never becomes a "major
party," the Libertarian Party is already a candidate to be the conscience
of our nation.

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About Me

As a Rōnin (between gigs), I spent 2016 learning Java and Java FX and using those tools to implement a Leadership Object-Oriented Model (LOOM). More recently, I have turned my attention to prototyping mass-transit system concepts in Python / SimPy.